We need to be reminded of the reality of Jesus return...

At the church where I serve, we have been spending the month of November looking at a letter that was written by the Apostle Peter and has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of 2 Peter. As we have looked at the book of 2 Peter, we have been reminded of several timeless truths about Jesus and the message and teachings of Jesus that we are to always have at the forefront of our lives in a way that results in us living out those truths so as to reveal and reflect Jesus to those around us.

This week, I would like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off last week. And as we jump into this next section of this letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of 2 Peter, we will see the Apostle Peter remind us of another timeless truth about Jesus and the message and teachings of Jesus that we are to always have at the forefront of our lives in a way that results in us living out those truths so as to reveal and reflect Jesus to those around us. So let’s discover that timeless reminder together, beginning in 2 Peter 3:1-2:

This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

Peter begins this final section of his letter by reminding the readers of his letter throughout history the motivation the drove him to sit down and write this letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible. You see, Peter wanted the readers of his letter throughout history to clearly understand that his sole intention was to keep reminding them of the reality of the rescue that they had obtained through Jesus. Peter wanted the readers of his letter to clearly understand that his sole intention was to keep reminding them of the authority of the letters contained in the Bible. Peter wanted the readers of his letter to clearly understand that his sole intention was to keep reminding them of the reality of the danger of false teachers.

And Peter wanted the readers of his letter to clearly understand that his sole intention was to keep reminding them of another reality that needed to be reminded of. Peter then explained that this reality that they needed to be reminded of was contained in the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. When Peter uses the phrase words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets, this phrase refers to the message and teaching of the Old Testament concerning the promise of the coming of the Messiah that would come to usher in the kingdom of Heaven here on earth, which was fulfilled through Jesus.

In addition, when Peter uses the phrase the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles, this phrase refers to the message and teaching of Jesus and the writers of the New Testament concerning Jesus. Peter is basically saying “I want to make sure you remember something specific about what the message and teaching of the Old Testament and the message and teaching of Jesus that we have communicated to you about Jesus.”

Peter then revealed what he wanted to remind the readers of his letter of when it come to what the letters that make up the Old Testament and the message and teachings of Jesus that had been communicated by Peter and the other writer of the letter that make up the New Testament had to say about Jesus in verse 3-7:

 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." ⁵ For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, ⁶ through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. ⁷ But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

Now to fully understand what Peter is communicating in these verses, we first need to understand a few things. The first things we need to understand is what Peter means when he uses the phrase “in the last days”. You see, when we read the letters that make up the Bible, what we discover is that the phrase “in the last days” refers to the time in history that began with Jesus entry into humanity and that will end with Jesus returning to earth to usher in the kingdom of Heaven in its fullest sense.

In other words, on the one hand, we are living in the last days right now, and on the other hand, we have been living in the last days for a little over 2,000 years. Peter, Paul, the writers of the New Testament, and followers of Jesus throughout history have lived with an expectancy that Jesus would return to defeat selfishness, sin and death and usher in the kingdom of heaven in its fullest sense and could return in the very near future to defeat selfishness, sin and death and usher in the kingdom of heaven in its fullest sense. 

Followers of Jesus throughout history have lived with an expectancy of Jesus return, because, as Peter points out in verse 4, Jesus Himself promised that He would return to defeat selfishness, sin and death and usher in the kingdom of heaven in its fullest sense. For over 2,000 years, followers of Jesus have lived with an anticipation and expectation that Jesus would return. But Jesus has not returned.

And because of the fact that Jesus has not returned, for 2,000 years Peter explained that mockers will come with their mocking. Now this phrase, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded like this: “in the time prior to Jesus return, there will be people who will ridicule and deride you with ridicule and derision because Jesus has not returned.”  Peter then revealed the motivation that drove these mockers with the phrase following after their own lusts. As we discovered throughout this series, this phrase refers to a desire for something that is forbidden by God. 

Peter then explained that these mockers, driven by their desire for what is forbidden by God, will ridicule and deride followers of Jesus by basically saying “So where this Jesus who you say has promised to return? I mean if your Jesus promised that He would return; if you think Jesus is going to return so soon, then why hasn’t he returned? After all, followers of Jesus are dying, and He hasn’t returned. And nothing really has changed since your Jesus was killed and since you say your Jesus was raised from the dead. People live and people die; the sun rises and the sun sets, just as it has done from the beginning of time. So you might as well face it, you guys are idiots for believing that Jesus is going to return.”

And for 2,000 years there have been people who have ridiculed and derided followers of Jesus as being idiots for believing that Jesus would return. So how should followers of Jesus respond to the fact that Jesus has not returned? How should followers of Jesus respond to being ridiculed and derided as idiots for believing that a dead guy would not only be resurrected, but would return from Heaven? We see Peter’s response to those who ridicule and deride followers of Jesus as idiots for believing that Jesus would return in verse 5. Peter pointed the readers of his letter, and followers of Jesus throughout history, to God’s activity in history that is recorded for us in the first nine chapters of the very first letter in the Bible called the book of Genesis.

Peter basically states “when those who ridicule and deride you as being idiots for believing that Jesus will return, it has escaped their attention that God commanded the universe into existence and brought the universe into existence through His activity. When those who ridicule and deride you as being idiots for believing that Jesus will return, it has escaped their attention that God also commanded and brought a flood upon the world as a right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of humanity.”

 Peter then makes a connection between God’s activity in the past in His creation of the world and His consequences that He brought on those who rebelled against Him in the past and God’s current activity in the world in this space in history that is preceding Jesus return in verse 7.  Peter’s statement in verse 7, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “And in the same way today, God, by His command is reserving the universe in its current condition in preparation for his right and just judgment on the selfishness and rebellion of those who leave God out and live as though He does not exist.”

And it is here that we see Peter provide for us a timeless warning that reveals for us a timeless reminder about Jesus and the message and teachings of Jesus that we are to always have at the forefront of our lives. And that timeless reminder is this: We need to be reminded of the reality of Jesus return.

And in 2 Peter 3:1-18, we see Peter reveal for us three different reasons why we need to be reminded of Jesus return. First, in 2 Peter 3:1-7, we see Peter reveal for us the reality that we need to be reminded of the reality of Jesus return because there will be those who ridicule our belief in His return. The timeless reality is that Jesus return has been promised and proclaimed throughout history. Jesus return was proclaimed by the prophets in the Old Testament. Jesus return was proclaimed by Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament.

And the timeless reality is that Jesus return has been ridiculed throughout history. Those who ridicule Jesus return are driven by a desire for what has been forbidden by Jesus. Those who ridicule Jesus return are driven by a belief that everything has remained the same since His death. They are driven by the belief that Jesus is not returning because the world continues to spin since the beginning of time, which reinforces their belief that God does not intervene in history to judge humanity.

However, those who ridicule Jesus return forget that God does intervene in history. They forget that God intervened in the creation of the universe. They forget that God intervened in the flood to judge humanity. And they forget that God has promised to intervene to rightly judge those who leave God out and live as though He does not exist.

Tomorrow, we will see Peter reveal a second reason why we need to be reminded of Jesus return…